I assembled the strongest swordsman group.

Military service was entirely the responsibility of the warriors, allowing the farmers to focus solely on farming.

One major consequence of this was that the peasants had extremely low combat skills, since they had never received military training—which was exactly what the rulers wanted.

The soldiers were mainly townspeople and farmers.

Their weapons consisted only of ordinary knives and guns, as well as homemade firearms.

Apart from morale, the Dayan Army, lacking advantages in manpower and equipment, naturally had little to show for its combat effectiveness.

Even so, the Ōshio army still managed to rout the corrupt and decadent shogunate army, forcing the shogunate to quickly request reinforcements from nearby domains. Upon hearing the news, domains such as Amagasaki, Kishiwada, and Koriyama immediately dispatched troops to reinforce Osaka.

Under the combined attack of the shogunate and various domains in the Kyoto region, the outnumbered Ōshio army was routed, and the townspeople and farmers could not withstand the blow and fled in all directions.

The shogunate cast a wide net across the country to rigorously search for Ōshio Heihachirō and others.

Heihachiro Oshio and his adopted son are hiding in a detached house in Osaka.

When the officials of the shogunate came to his door, Ōshio Heihachirō, knowing he had nowhere to escape, lit the explosives he had prepared beforehand, blowing up his house and burning himself to death.

Afterwards, the shogunate's officials found two charred bodies in the ruins whose faces were unrecognizable.

To be fair, although Ōshio Heihachirō's uprising did not cause significant material damage to the shogunate, it still leaves the shogunate and the powerful feudal lords with lingering fears.

The reason is simple—the ideas promoted by Ōshio Heihachirō truly resonated with the hearts of lower-ranking samurai and the general populace.

Nobility is not inherited! Whether they are high-ranking warriors or privileged merchants, what gives them the right to ride roughshod over us?

These progressive ideas of Ōshio Heihachirō posed a tremendous threat to feudal rulers!

It can be said that if Ōshio Heihachirō's progressive ideas were widely disseminated, they would be enough to shake the foundations of the Edo Shogunate and the various domains in different regions!

Although Heihachiro Ooshio died, his ideas did not perish, and his followers did not fall silent!

After the uprising failed, the remaining followers of the "Ōshio ideology" united and continued to work tirelessly to realize Ōshio Heihachirō's ideal of governing the world.

Like grass growing in the cracks of rocks, they tenaciously survive and grow.

They did not announce an official name, so people commonly referred to them as the "Great Salt Party".

It's not hard to imagine the shogunate, which was deeply wary of the "Ōshio ideology," would use ruthless methods to deal with the Ōshio party...

For more than twenty years, the shogunate had been relentlessly pursuing and suppressing the Ōshio Party.

According to Nishino, the Ōshio Party was once driven to the brink of extinction under the shogunate's frenzied suppression.

However... with the outbreak of the "Black Ships Incident" 8 years ago, the Great Salt Party's fortunes turned around.

Surrendering to warships and cannons, signing unequal treaties, and being powerless to stop the economic invasion and political infiltration of Western powers...

Since the "Black Ships Incident," the shogunate's various actions have been so outrageous that more and more people have begun to question its authority.

The more incompetent the shogunate was and the worse the social environment became, the more people worshipped Ōshio Heihachirō.

The shogunate, preoccupied with putting out fires everywhere, had no time to deal with the Ōshio Party.

Riding this wave of opportunity, the Great Salt Party grew rapidly.

They spread their influence far and wide, with the capital region as their center.

The number of members, military strength, and sphere of influence are increasing day by day.

And the "Great Salt Idea" spread further and further.

Some insightful individuals who had been influenced by Western democratic thought even began to extol Ōshio Heihachirō as the "founder of civil rights."

The name Ōshio Heihachirō has become a powerful spiritual symbol, a pillar of support for liberals and civil rights advocates in their attacks on authoritarian governments.

After years of development, the Great Salt Party is no longer the stray dog ​​it once was—Nishino is well aware of this.

However, up to this point, the Great Salt Party was no different from a tiger or a lion to him—he knew it existed, but had never seen it.

"My grandson, you...you're really a member of the Big Salt Party?"

"Of course~ it's genuine~~"

My grandson spread his hands and gave me a harmless smile.

He was both a spy planted within the shogunate by the Hoju Party and a spy planted within the Hoju Party by the Daishio Party... My grandson's complex identity as a spy within a spy, a nest within a nest, caused Nishino's brain to freeze uncontrollably for a moment due to disbelief.

Before Nishino could recover from his shock, my grandson suddenly wiped the smile off his face and said seriously:

"Nishino-kun, I need your help now. Please listen carefully to what I have to say."

"I need your help to infiltrate Rakshasa's room and find evidence of their production and sale of hallucinogenic substances!"

*******

*******

You didn't expect this plot twist: my grandson is a member of the Big Salt Party, did you?

This isn't a plot that Leopard came up with on a whim; this setting was foreshadowed from the beginning.

Please see the "Author's Note" below for details.

First, when my grandson first appeared, he was flipping through a book introducing Wang Yangming's philosophy of mind.

Secondly, every member of the Great Salt Party who has appeared so far has a three-character surname: Akutsu, Ichinose, and Ebina.

Aside from Aoto, all the Fire Thieves changed the surnames of all the squad leaders to include a natural element, such as: Mizushima, Hisaka, Kanazawa.

Only my grandson's surname lacks any natural elements, and it also has three characters.

Secondly, as mentioned countless times earlier: my grandson never fabricates or convicts. When handling cases, he focuses on collecting evidence and avoids the practice of torture to extract confessions, which is why he is very popular with the people. His upright conduct is unlike that of his colleagues.

Finally, the most important foreshadowing—why did my grandson not seek help from others, but instead target Nishino? Let's leave that aside for now.

Chapter 445 Hardcore Espionage Requires Only the Simplest Methods (Drawing a Sword) [5300]

"Phantom sediment? What is that?"

Upon suddenly hearing an unfamiliar term he had never heard before, Nishino unconsciously frowned.

"Simply put, this is a slow-acting poison developed by the Fazhu Party and secretly spread throughout the Kanto region..."

My grandson succinctly summarized the important information about the appearance and medicinal effects of the drug, one by one.

After my grandson finished explaining, Nishino stared wide-eyed in astonishment.

"This...this..."

He stammered out fragmented words, unable to utter a single coherent, meaningful sentence.

Drugs that can easily destroy people's minds; damage the livelihood of the people in Kanto and shake the foundation of the shogunate's rule... Everything my grandson just mentioned was beyond Nishino's imagination, leaving him stunned for a long time.

At this point, my grandson continued the conversation:

"Overthrowing the corrupt Edo Shogunate and establishing a peaceful and prosperous world where everyone has enough to eat is the highest goal of the Ōshio Party and our lifelong aspiration."

"From the perspective of purpose alone, we and the Fakuju Party both take it as our mission to overthrow the tyrannical rule of the Tokugawa family."

"Even without a blood oath, we who share the same ideals should not hinder each other."

"But in reality, we are irreconcilable enemies."

"There is a saying in the West, 'Heretics are more hateful than paganism'—ah, this proverb is the most fitting way to describe our attitude towards punishing the party according to the law."

"The method of eliminating the party through legal means to overthrow the party was far too radical."

"They were happy to use any means that could cause trouble for the shogunate, such as sabotaging granaries, poisoning wells, and kidnapping people."

“In their eyes, whether they were samurai, commoners, Chinese or foreigners, they were all objects that could be abandoned or sacrificed.”

"To weaken the shogunate's power, they actually went so far as to release such dangerous drugs into the Kanto region... They're simply insane."

"Although we are both anti-shogunate organizations, the core direction of our Great Shio Party is to enable all people in the world to live a good life with enough to eat and wear. 'Overthrowing the Edo Shogunate' is just a means for us to achieve this goal."

"On the other hand, the execution of the party... I personally believe that they completely mistook the means for the end."

"All resources, all time, and all effort were devoted to the goal of 'overthrowing the Shogunate'."

They only considered conquering the world, never thinking about governing it.

"In short, Nishino-kun, you can think of our Ooshio Party as a 'moderate and rational anti-shogunate faction,' and the Hoju Party as a 'radical and fanatical anti-shogunate faction.'"

"This cruel act of punishing the party without regard for the people's suffering is, in our eyes, a backward and incomprehensible atrocity."

"Therefore, in order to stop the Fazhu Party's crazy actions, the organization sent me to infiltrate the Fazhu Party and collect evidence of their production and sale of dangerous drugs."

"No matter how incompetent the officials of the shogunate may be, they must know what a terrible disaster would occur if they allowed such a terrible drug, which could turn a healthy person into a mentally unstable cripple, to spread."

"As long as the irrefutable evidence of the Hojudō's production and distribution of the genjutsu is handed over to the shogunate, it will attract the shogunate's attention to the Hojudō."

"In this way, we can use the power of the shogunate to weaken or even quell the Hoju Party, or at least stop them from continuing to spread the illusionary substance..."

Before my grandson could finish speaking, Nishino interrupted in a tone devoid of joy or sorrow:

"Using someone else to do the dirty work..."

My grandson smiled slightly:

"Yes, that's roughly the idea. The shogunate and the Hoshoku-dō are both our enemies. Instigating conflict between these two factions—don't you think that's one of the most brilliant strategies?"

"That's the plan, but a problem has arisen."

"The law punishes political factions and is particularly adept at controlling intelligence."

"The Fazhu Party placed high hopes on the Gensuke-no-Yoku, regarding it as an important 'weapon' to defeat the shogunate."

"It is understood that more than a year ago, someone almost succeeded in exposing the evil deeds of the Fa-Zhu-Dang in secretly spreading illusions, but failed."

"After this incident, the Fazhu Party greatly increased the protection of all confidential intelligence related to the matter."

“I have been lurking by Rakshasa’s side for many years, but to this day I have not been able to find a single useful clue.”

"This is a battle where every second counts."

"If the phagocytic deposits are not eradicated as soon as possible, new victims may appear at any moment."

"Now that things have come to this, I've decided to take a desperate gamble—I'm going to force my way into Rakshasa's bedroom."

"The Rakshasa likes to work in his bedroom—that alone is enough reason to take the risk."

"However, Rakshasa never allowed outsiders to approach his bedroom."

"No matter the time, there would always be a trusted aide—a samurai named Genjuro—guarding his bedroom door."